


The Stars Are Beautiful Tonight

by theoorsomething



Category: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Genre: AI romance, F/M, Mechanics, Other, Outer Space, Romantic Fluff, Stars, Wayfarers, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26127997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoorsomething/pseuds/theoorsomething
Relationships: Lovelace/Jenks
Comments: 7
Kudos: 19





	The Stars Are Beautiful Tonight

Jenks was sat in the Fishbowl, a cup of tea in one hand and a redreed pipe in the other. He was looking out through the glass dome at the seemingly endless abyss of space, the red smoke swirling around him.

“The stars are beautiful tonight, huh, Lovey?”

The AI beeped. “They’re the same every night, Jenks.” He could hear the smirk in her voice.

“I suppose they are… hey, they’re not the only thing that’s beautiful every night, you know.” He looked over at the vox.

“What else is?”

He smiled. “You.”

Lovey laughed. “Oh, stars, you are full of it! I can’t be beautiful, I don’t have a physical form, J.” This wasn’t _completely_ true, she had the AI chamber, but in Lovey’s (metaphorical) eyes, that didn’t really count. It was a room full of metal panels and wires, it wasn’t _beautiful_.

He shrugged and took a drag of his pipe. “I don’t mean physically beautiful, Love, although your cooling unit is a gorgeous piece of machinery. You… you’ve got a beautiful soul. A beautiful mind.” He listened as she made a few whistles and beeps, an indication that he’d flustered her.

“J, you really know the way to a woman’s heart… well, core…” She said quietly, and for a moment, they were silent, looking out at the swirling stars. Lovey spoke up first. “Your mind is beautiful too. Perfect, even.”

“I’m prone to human error, you know that.”

“Human error is what makes it perfect. When you’re wrong, you’re wrong in a way that’s beautiful, in a way that’s uniquely _you_. When I’m wrong, I’m malfunctioning and probably need to get some parts fixed.” She laughed.

“...I guess that’s fair. Humans are weird.” He took another puff of smoke, blowing a ring. “Hey Lovey, what’s Kizzy up to right now?”

Lovey beeped, then responded a few moments later. “She’s fast asleep.”

“That’s a first… Good for her, she deserves some rest.”

“So do you, Jenks.”

He nodded, setting down his empty mug. “I’ll sleep when I’m tired, Love.”

“Don’t you think about leaving that mug in here, mister. You know Ashby will be on your ass about it.”

Jenks sighed and picked the mug back up, standing.

Once he returned the cup to the kitchen, he walked to the AI chamber and immediately ran his hand along Lovey’s core. The warm glow emanating from her heated him, and he smiled.

“And you say you aren’t beautiful…” He mumbled.

“Maybe I’m beautiful in the way that stars are, or an intruiging blueprint is, but I’m not the type of beautiful that an Aeluon is, or that our crewmates are—”

“You think they’re beautiful?” Jenks pulled off his shirt and slid into the center of Lovey’s core unit.

“Of course I do.”

“Have you forgotten Corbin exists?” He laughed. She laughed too, a quick pulse of yellow light washing over Jenks, warm and bright and _her_.

“Everyone has their own unique organic body. That’s what makes them beautiful. I don’t really know what I personally consider attractive, not in a physical sense. But everyone’s unique forms? The patterns and specks on their skin and scales and fur? That’s… that’s something beautiful.”

Jenks considered that for a moment. He supposed that if he didn’t have preferences, it would be easy to find every member of his crew beautiful, at least in an aesthetic sense.

“Jenks?”

“Mhm?”

“I think… if I were to have a body, I’d like it to have freckles.”

He smiled. “Like Rosemary?”

“And Corbin,” She added.

“He has freckles?”

“Only after being out on a bright planet, more red than normal freckles… I’d like to have them all the time though, like Rosemary.”

He made a little ‘hmm’ sound. Jenks had known Lovey paid attention to little details, but he hadn’t realized just how much she kept note of. Sometimes, she’d mention small things, like what Ashby had for breakfast the other day, or how Kizzy folded her socks, or what Dr Chef’s favourite herb was, and it reminded him just how important the Wayfarer’s crew was to her. He thought back to when Rosemary first joined their crew, and their discussion about Lovey’s body.

“Do you still think Rosemary is my type? Because I don’t want you to be a clone of her, Love, that would be… really weird.”

“No, no, not a clone. I just like that feature of hers. They’re like constellations. Stars are beautiful, after all.”

He nodded. “That’s fair… Just know that no matter what your body looks like, I’m going to love you.”

She laughed, the glow pulsing again. “I know that, silly. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to look my best for you.”

It was silent for a few moments, then Lovey realized Jenks had fallen asleep. She laughed quietly.

“Good night Jenks. Sweet dreams.”


End file.
